Nokia Siemens Networks BV has won business of about US$900 million from Indian services provider Bharti Airtel Ltd. The joint venture of Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG, officially launched in April, is also setting up a manufacturing facility in India.
Airtel and Nokia Siemens Networks announced Tuesday that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding covering the expansion of Airtel’s GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), fixed national long-distance and international networks.
Nokia Siemens Networks will add 1.8 million NGN (Next Generation Network) ports to Airtel’s national and long-distance networks, and add capacity for 4.5 million new users in the service provider’s international calling card prepaid service, the companies said.
The GSM and NGN expansions are planned over two years, while the expansion of the calling cards service will take three years.
The GSM expansion will cover eight geographical circles in India where Nokia Siemens Networks already provides equipment and managed services. The expansion will enable Airtel to rapidly increase its geographical footprint to rural India and increase its overall network capacity, the companies said.
Nokia and Siemens have been associated with building Airtel’s mobile and fixed networks. A previous major deal for GSM expansion signed last year between Nokia and Airtel was valued at $400 million.
On Monday Nokia Siemens announced that it is investing $100 million in India over the next three years. Part of this investment will help set up a manufacturing facility for wireless network equipment in Tamil Nadu in south India. Construction of the facility, which will serve the Indian market, begins later this year, with commercial production expected to start next year.
India added 6.57 million mobile subscribers in May, taking the total number of subscribers to 178 million, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The country added 6.11 million mobile subscribers in April.
A number of multinational telecommunications equipment makers including Nokia Corp. have set up manufacturing facilities in the country.
